Gérard Depardieu, Innocent

gérard depardieu gérard In his proto-memoir Innocent, world-renowned actor Gérard Depardieu Gérard Depardieu reflects on his life as if from afar, like a bird surveying a wide horizon, presenting fervent obser- vations on friendship, cinema, religion, politics, & more. From his early days in the theater and his friendships with Jean Gabin and others to his rise in the cinema, this light, vibrant, but searching book offers us an intimate entry into the thinking process of one of cinema’s most mercurial& impassioned actors. Depardieu also touches upon contro- versial topics such as his relationship with Putin & issues Innocent that have led to skirmishes with the press and public. At bottom, Innocent is less a memoir & more the account of a man in search of faith, the faith that is of an innocent mystic, and includes passages about Depardieu’s explora- tions of Islam, Buddhism, and other religions. Espousing a notion of innocence that calls us to move be- yond dogma and ideology, Depardieu urges us to engage with others with respect, receptivity, and mindfulness. In these combative and divisive times, we believe this is a vital if not necessary book, one that could continue and extend dialogues about questions of faith, politics,& religion. isbn 978–1–940625–24–9 www.contramundum.net INNOCENT Gérard Depardieu INNOCENT translated by rainer j. hanshe Innocent © 2015 Le cherche midi Library of Congress éditeur; translation © 2017 Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Rainer J. Hanshe Depardieu, Gérard, 1948– [ Innocent. English.] First Contra Mundum Press Innocent / Gérard Depardieu ; Edition 2017. translated from the French by All Rights Reserved under Rainer J. Hanshe International & Pan-American Copyright Conventions. —ıst Contra Mundum Press No part of this book may be Edition reproduced in any form or by 168 pp., 5 x 8 in. any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval isbn 9781940625249 systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, I. Depardieu, Gérard. except by a reviewer who may II. Title. quote brief passages in a review. III. Hanshe, Rainer J. IV. Translator. 2017947793 TABLE OF CONTENTS Friendship 0 Cinema, It’s That, Too 12 A Political World 32 What Keeps Me Alive 50 I Mistrust Civilizations 70 The Open Door 100 Innocent 114 FRIENDSHIP Friendship is a question mark. It exists perhaps only in childhood. Friends are the people with whom we grow up. We go fishing together for the first time, we spend nights together outside, we steal cherries, we get caught red handed, we support each other. Friends are the people with whom we touch the willy too, we discover and de- velop ourselves, we live all of our first times together. We believe a lot in friendship, then things deteriorate a bit. It’s not the same thing anymore since time changes, lives change, even molecules change. At fifteen we’re not the same as when we’re forty, still less that of a man of seventy. So we can think of friendship as a flower : it grows, it fades, it disappears, then the following season, it can return like a peony that was believed lost but which sud- denly reveals itself, splashing its most beautiful colors. When you’re my age, many of your friends have al- ready left. And since you know that you will no longer see those people who have disappeared, you remain with the idea of that past friendship. innocent friendship In spite of everything , we still try to believe that other friendships are possible. Even if the word friendship has become a bit obsolete. Even if we live in a society where friendship no longer exists. Even if we know that to be human is to always betray. To be human is to kill. In spite of everything , we say that there are perhaps friends whom we don’t know, people who love us from afar and who we could love. Still, it’s necessary to make the first step … and sometimes, it’s tiring. What most worried me when I left Châteauroux was not to have school buddies. Even if I had realized that mine were often morons or the children of morons. Because, in Berry, where the houses were narrow, where the doors were narrow, & where the people were often narrow, I was only defined by the place that I came from, the people who had raised me, & their reputation. We were a family of Indians. And I had often heard parents say to their children when pointing their fingers at me : “I don’t want you to play with him! He’s a thug! ” I heard that, but it didn’t bother me. I wasn’t very affected by narrow mindedness back then. But just to leave those buddies, it takes courage. Be- cause we never know what we’re going to find after. Because maybe we’ll find even worse. So I wandered alone for a long time, telling myself that I would never find friends. 3 gérard depardieu I was mourning my school playground. It’s a bit like a first love — you’re in love with someone, and then there’s a rupture. And it takes time to fall in love again. Except that there was no first love. I had life to live and I was curious about what was going to happen. Even if I had no real ambition. Just keep silent, smile, and look likeable enough to slip through the cracks. It took one brief year : I had seen something else ; I had invented something else. I had read Jean Giono’s The Song of the World, which gave me the idea to take off, to hit the road. And then, on my way, I had met other people. People who had the same desire for life as me. People like Marcel Dalio, like Pierre Brasseur, like Michel Simon. Marcel Dalio and I both played Israël Horovitz at Gaîté-Montparnasse. Him, The Indian Wants the Bronx, me, Clair-Obscur. I would wait for him at the exit of the theater and we would travel together under the stars. Marcel was always made up, by day as by night, acting or not acting. He was an extravagant character, the kind you don’t see anymore nowadays. My Marcel, he was like my Jean Carmet, but I met him before. He was about the same size. He also had moments of in- tense despair because he was too lucid. But his immense culture and an incredible sense of derision used to help him carry on. Life had taught him to overcome his fear. He said to me : “Never say no, always say yes, oui! 4 CINEMA, IT’S THAT, TOO 12 13 The young Pierre Niney, who received the César for best actor for his interpretation of Yves Saint Laurent, thanked the “profound benevolence” of the voters, “that benevolence so important to acting ,” that “necessary benevolence.” Since when should the cinema be benevolent ? The cinema is not benevolent ; the cinema must above all not be benevolent. The cinema must be full of dangers, of hellburners, of dynamite, of burning stones that one tries to juggle. Art, whatever it may be, true art, has always been the opposite of benevolence. To be of value, art must be dangerous. Like the art of the young tightrope walker that I saw falling in front of his father’s eyes on Place Voltaire in Châteauroux when I was young. Artists are all circus people. And their art is a journey, a journey that begins with deep thinking , because we know that with all the things that we have to express, we have to take a dangerous path alone and face the consequences alone. 14 innocent cinema, it’s that, too And if that process requires psychological under- standing , its first concern is not benevolence. What motivates it above all is truth. The cinema must be true, that is,dangerous . The very great actors are everything but benevolent. I don’t even believe in the so-called sensitivity of the actor. When they are real artists, actors are wild, they are cruel, their way of apprehending things is painful and violent. And it’s the same with directors. When I think of Michelangelo Antonioni, when I think of Marco Ferreri, of Jean-Luc Godard, of Ber- trand Blier, the first word that comes to my mind is not really benevolence. They are extraordinary people, not necessarily nice, and their primary concern was not to please or be likeable. Chabrol, with his magnificent human qualities, dis- sected the bourgeois milieus, their neuroses, their per- versities. He couldn’t have done that with such lucidity if he’d regarded his contemporaries with benevolence. And Buñuel, courtesy and manners wouldn’t have helped him portray society or religion as he did. All those great filmmakers weren’t trying to please people or be considerate, they had their qualities and defects, but every one of them was fascinated by human nature and society, which they revealed with a certain perspective, neither sweet nor indulgent, but true. 15 gérard depardieu And that’s why cinema was a few years ahead of its time and why it was the pulse of the future society. When Chaplin released The Dictator, when Ferreri was making La Grande Bouffe, or Blier Les Valseuses, they showed the truth of their times. The same goes with the great Italian directors: Vittorio De Sica, Dino Risi, Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, or Bernardo Bertolucci for instance. They depicted what was in front of their eyes, things that many people couldn’t see because they were blind- ed by their good consciences.

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